Movies like The Journals of Musan (2011)
The best movies like The Journals of Musan (2011) are The Net (2016), Escape (2024) and Serve the People (2022). If The Journals of Musan hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Net (2016)7.4/10 from 213 votes
- NewestEscape (2024)Released 2024
- In KoreanThe Net (2016)Also in Korean
The Net (2016)
A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEscape (2024)
After completing his required decade of military service and being honored as a hero, a North Korean sergeant makes a sudden shocking attempt to defect to the South, risking life and limb for the chance to finally determine his own destiny.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisServe the People (2022)
Mu-kwang volunteers to be a kitchen police of Sa-taek, the divisional commander, dreaming of success. One day, Mu-kwang meets Su-ryeon by chance, who is a young and beautiful wife of the commander. Soon, he feels a strong attraction by her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Day He Arrives (2011)
A film director who no longer makes films arrives in Seoul to meet a close friend. When the friend doesn't show up, he wanders the city aimlessly for three days, grabbing drinks and meeting women, with each day playing out like a version of the last.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh Society (2018)
The story of the journey of married couple up the social latter. The husband is professor at Seoul National University who is running for the National Assembly, and his wife is a painter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEveryone Is There (2020)
Soo Yeon decides to commit suicide to end the bullying she goes through at school, when a savior appears. A woman punishes the bullies on behalf of Soo Yeon and saves her from the reality of hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIn Front of Your Face (2021)
She has never lived in a high-rise apartment, and she wonders how her sister can live at this height every day. A few days ago she kind of burst in to stay with her sister, and she is now becoming re-accustomed to life in Korea. While seeming to keep a grave secret to herself, she manages life one day at a time with a sense of mindfulness. Meanwhile a certain director, some years younger than her, has asked her to join his project, and after a polite refusal, they have agreed to meet for the first time today. Downtown Seoul is filled with narrow alleys that harbor tiny old bars, and that's where they meet. As they are getting drunk, there is sudden rainfall and thunder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlex of Venice (2015)
After her stay-at-home husband leaves her, a workaholic lawyer finds that she is not completely up to the tasks of caring for her young son, ailing father and household all by herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThread of Lies (2014)
Cheon-ji's unexpected suicide causes her mother Hyeon-sook and older sister Man-ji to be moved into another apartment. Tracking down clues from school, Man-ji discovers that Cheon-ji's best friend Hwa-yeon is behind everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSunflower (2006)
Tae-sik gets out of a prison after spending 10 years for killing a man and wishes nothing but an ordinary life. A local lady welcomes him into her household like a son and he gets a second chance in life. His former gang tries to destroy his new home in order to build a night club but he won’t let them destroy his new family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiracle: Letters to the President (2021)
Dreaming of making a way station for his sister and the villagers who have no choice but to commute along the dangerous train tracks every day, Joon-kyung sends many letters to the President, but with no reply. Ra-hee, who has a crush on Joon-kyung, does everything she can to help him meet the President.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Better Tomorrow (2010)
An idealistic policeman must bring down his estranged older brother, now a powerful gangster in a South Korean port city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFarming (2018)
Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight and Day (2008)
Kim Seong-nam travels to Paris to escape an arrest, leaving his wife behind in Korea. After he arrives, he meets an ex-girlfriend and is introduced to a small community of Korean artists.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSergio (2020)
A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Brazilian Sérgio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (1996)
The lives of 4 interconnected South Koreans – a married couple, a novelist the wife is having an affair with, and a second woman the novelist is simultaneously involved with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindwalk (1991)
On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStateless Things (2012)
Stateless Things crosscuts between the lives of two young men, one an illegal immigrant from North Korea stuck in dead-end jobs, the other the kept boy of a married businessman stifling in a swanky apartment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Beautiful Days (2018)
At the request of his dying father, Zhenchen, a Chinese student, goes to Seoul in search of his mother, whom he has not seen for fourteen years. He soon discovers that she is working as a hostess in a bar…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sunshine (2015)
Sul-ji, exiled from North Korea 2 years ago, is cheerful lady who is working at flower shop. Using her experience that drew propaganda paintings in North Korea, she draws wall-painting for part-timer. Desperate Broadcast producer Shin-woong, discovers her and trying to make hit documentary about her, but she hesitates minding her families still in North. Eventually she decides to go in under the condition that she hides her identity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Fighter (2021)
After a few months of social adjustment training, the North Korean refugee Jina moves to a small studio in Seoul and starts her new life. To bring her father to South Korea, she needs money but no matter how hard she works, the discrimination doesn’t let her save enough money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Poongsan (2011)
Poongsan has the unenviable - and death-defying - job of delivering messages across the North and South Korean border to separated families. When South Korean government agents ask him to smuggle in In-ok, the lover of a high-ranking North Korean defector, into the South, the damsel and rescuer fall in love instead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
48m (2013)
Ap-lok river flows between North Korea and China. A point along the river runs about 48 meters. There, North Koreans risk their lives by trying to cross the river. Real stories of those people who attempt to cross the river are told.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Crossing (2008)
Yong-soo is an ex-soccer player who lives in a small coal-mine village in North Korea with his wife and young son, Joon. Although living in extreme poverty like many other families in North Korea, the family is happy just to be with each other. Then one day, Yong-soo's pregnant wife becomes critically ill. Let alone medicine, Yong-soo can't even find food for her in North Korea. So he decides to secretly cross the border to China hoping to find the medicine for his wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Eun-seo (2019)
North Korean Refugee Eunseo has been living in South Korea for 20 years. Now she is almost South Korean. No one knows she came from North Korea. Then her mother, who has been out of contact, comes to South Korea, and gets to live with her. People get to know that Eunseo came from North Korea, and Eunseo starts to feel uncomfortable with her mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Name Is Loh Kiwan (2024)
After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Journals of Musan?
The closest matches to The Journals of Musan are The Net (2016), Escape (2024) and Serve the People (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Journals of Musan?
Start with The Net (2016), the closest match to The Journals of Musan.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Journals of Musan?
The Net (2016), rated 7.4/10 by 213 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Journals of Musan?
Escape (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like The Journals of Musan?
Yes: The Net (2016), Escape (2024) and Serve the People (2022).
How are movies similar to The Journals of Musan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Journals of Musan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.